


Girl with a Spark

by VanillaMostly



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-03
Updated: 2014-05-03
Packaged: 2018-01-21 19:06:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1560863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaMostly/pseuds/VanillaMostly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lyanna and Benjen fight in the godswood and talk about life. Or, a peek into fourteen-year-old Lyanna's head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Girl with a Spark

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own. A lot of the characterization is speculation, fan-based and whatnot. xD

She parried Benjen's stick easily and with a quick turn of her wrist, struck him smartly on the shin. He yelped, losing his balance, and wasn't long before he was on his back in the mud, glaring up at her.

"You needn't take out your rage on me," he grumbled. "It's not _my_ fault Father wants to marry you off."

Lyanna pointed the end of her stick at his chest. "You're lucky this isn't a real sword, Benjen, or I'll have your head. Get up, let's have another go."

Benjen scrambled to his feet, but he was smiling now, or more like smirking. He'd found her thorn. "He's not _all_ bad, you know, that Robert bloke. Ned likes him fair enough."

"He can have him, then."

"Tell that to Father, I'd like to see it," sniggered Benjen. "Hey!" he yelled, when Lyanna rapped him on the head.

"Too much talking," she said, but Benjen rubbing his head and sticking out his tongue brought her no satisfaction. Her mood was by far spoiled at this point.

She tossed the branch onto the ground, kicking at the dirt, cursing the gods for being so unfair. She crouched down at the edge of one of the pools, picked up a piece of rock, and threw it as hard as she could at the opposite bank. Benjen to his credit said nothing, just sat down beside her.

Lyanna sighed, pushing her sweaty hair out from her eyes. "I don't want to marry him." She thought about it for a moment, then rectified her statement. "I don't want to marry _anyone_."

"You can be a septa," offered Benjen. He recoiled at her glare. Lyanna's glare was nothing to be taken lightly; it could frighten the balls off of a man, Brandon said so himself.

"And be stuck in some crypt, saying prayers all day? Don't be stupid. Those aren't even our gods."

"I was kidding," mumbled Benjen. Lyanna rolled her eyes. "What do you want, then?"

"I want to be a sellsword."

Benjen covered his mouth, and Lyanna knew he only barely held back his laughter. She ignored him, not about to let her little brother ruin her fantasy.

"Yes, a sellsword, in the Free Cities," said Lyanna, resting her chin on her knees. "I can go anywhere I please. Pentos, Braavos, Myr, Volantis... Did you know they have elephants there? I should like to ride one."

Benjen couldn't hold back any longer. "Girls can't be _sellswords_."

"Why not?" demanded Lyanna. "All sellswords do is fight, win fights. I can beat you in my sleep, Benjen Stark."

Benjen crossed his arms and sniffed. He wasn't going to try to dispute that, as Lyanna knew. "Well... I've never heard of a girl sellsword. That's like saying a girl can be a _knight_."

"They can, too. Visenya and Rhaenys were warriors on dragonback. Queen Nymeria conquered Dorne."

"But you're not a Targaryen, and you're not..."

"Rhoynar," finished Lyanna for Benjen. He never listened very well during their lessons with Maester Luwin. Although many of these stories, Lyanna had heard from Old Nan. She sighed again, closing her eyes. "I know I'm not any of those. I'm a Stark."

_The only maid Stark. If I were born a boy, like Benjen, I wouldn't have to marry._

It just wasn't fair. Brandon was the heir, and he would wed the Tully girl in Riverrun, make the alliance their father wanted, carry on the Stark name. Why wasn't that enough? Ned and Benjen could do as they please. Nothing was expected of _them_ , as the younger sons.

Benjen patted her on the back awkwardly, trying to be comforting. Lyanna would have found that endearing if she wasn't still annoyed. "Robert isn't that bad. You like him, don't you? I saw you laughing with him at dinner."

"I was laughing _at_ him," corrected Lyanna. She made a face at the memory of dear Ned's friend, winking his baby blue eyes at her over his tankard of ale, complimenting her nonstop with his booming voice. He wasn't unpleasant to look at, in truth - surely the serving girls couldn't stop blushing when he turned his baby blues on _them -_ and Lyanna supposed he could be funny, but fact was that he simply bored her. If he wasn't rambling about how beautiful she was, he was recounting a melee he'd won at this tourney, that tourney. Gods forbid _she_ put in her opinion about jousts or lances or horses, or _anything_ for that matter, he'd stare at her for a moment like she was strange, before roaring into laughter, slapping his thigh and saying, "Ned, your sister is _adorable._ "

Never mind _boring_ her, he absolutely set her teeth on edge, at times.

Benjen was saying something now, about how girls can be so complicated, he'd never understand them. Lyanna punched his shoulder. He whined.

"If you treat him like how you treat me, he'd dump you in a second," retorted Benjen.

Awfully tempting, actually. Only what had Robert said to Ned earlier, when he had thought Lyanna was out of earshot? _Oh, don't you worry, Ned, I like my women with a spark in them._

Dear gods, if she ever punched Robert, that'd probably get him hard.

This wasn't something she should say to her baby brother (she'd always made sure Benjen was well-protected from Brandon and his bawdy stories of his escapades with that Barbrey woman), so she got to her feet, brushed off the dirt from her dress, and said, "Let's go back. I'm tired."

Benjen raised his brows at that- they both knew Lyanna was never _tired_ \- but he didn't challenge it. The two of them may fight a lot, metaphorically and literally speaking, but Benjen knew Lyanna the best out of all her brothers, and he could be sweet like that.

"Want to stop by the kitchen and nick some lemon cakes?"

Lyanna grinned, for the first time that day. Yes, Benjen always knew exactly what she needed.

"Race you!" she shouted, and ran like the she-wolf that she was.

 

 


End file.
